On the Mets beat

Today's back page says it all. How could so much optimism disappear so quickly -- in one inning, to be exact. It was was pretty bad. I know Jerry Manuel explained that Johan Santana is a 100-pitch guy. But Santana has got to step up and insist to pitch the ninth last night. I'm sorry. He knew they didn't have Billy Wagner, and say all you want about the bullpen just needing three outs, but can't he just go for the complete game just this one time?

With no closer and first place on the line against the biggest threat in the NL East? Just this once? If Santana couldn't go the distance last night, despite just 105 pitches, when will he ever this season -- or the next six in a Mets uniform? It's worth asking, as Johnette Howard does today.

I can't blame Manuel for pulling him. I'm sure it's team policy that Santana tops out around 100 pitches and then it's time to pull the plug. Maybe they're trying to protect their long-term $137.5-million investment. But they need to think short-term, too. Having Santana throw another 10 pitches in the ninth wouldn't have killed him. He only went to a three-ball count on one batter all night. He was cruising.

Anyway, the whole mess is chronicled in today's Newsday, from the ugly details of the 8-6 loss to Wagner's saga to the Phillies' post-game giddiness.

And while Ryan Church is inching toward a return, one person who definitely has a headache this morning is third-base coach Luis Aguayo, who twice -- twice -- sent Endy Chavez to his doom with none out in the third and seventh innings. Brutal. It didn't seem fatal at the time, but those runs, and the potential rallies they short-circuited, proved costly.